Child’s play

Kissing babies is nothing new on the campaign trail, but newborns are taking center stage in a new Republican fear-mongering campaign. On the show today we discussed a TV ad that Governor Romney’s campaign released earlier this month, in which a mother tells her baby, “Dear daughter, your share of Obama’s debt is over $50,000, and it grows every day.” That ad seems to have set off a series of Super PAC ads echoing that strategy. Below you can watch a Restore Our Future spot released this past week, tracking a child’s life from the President’s inauguration until now.

Another ad from the Super PAC Americans for Job Security ends with a baby about to burst into tears as her mother narrates, “the future is getting worse under Obama.”

The ads are clearly designed to appeal to women, and to elicit a visceral response by putting the safety of children at stake. This is reminiscent of the famous “Daisy” ad aired by President Lyndon Johnson’s campaign in 1964 when he was running against Barry Goldwater. That ad featured a girl counting flower pedals until she is drowned out by the countdown to the launch of a nuclear bomb.

Watch what Alex and our panel think about this strategy and whether or not it will help Romney swing female voters.